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Strakha Stealth Fighter
The fictional Strakha-class stealth fighter is a Kilrathi stealth fighter from Chris Roberts's Wing Commander series of computer games. Its first appearance was in the computer game Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi. Background In the fictional Wing Commander univerdr, the leaders of the Confederation Navy received very few reports from fighters who had supposedly encountered some kind of Kilrathi fighter that could cloak, becoming invisible to the naked eye. The officers of the Confederation denied the existence of any kind of stealth fighter due to lack of evidence. Super Wing Commander Rumors that the Kilrathi have some kind of cloaked fighters are discussed in hushed whispers throughout the fleet. However the Confederation has deemed the topic classified and threatens military punishment for anyone caught discussing the topic. Jason Armstrong heard some of these runors being discussed. Venegeance of the Kilrathi Later, Chief among those reporting the fighter was Colonel Christopher Blair who reported their existence and that the stealth fighter was the cause of the destruction of the TCS Tiger's Claw in the year 2656. Because Blair's flight data recorder was missing after the engagement. his claims of some sort of Kilrathi "stealth fighter" which utilized a cloaking device to pass in and out of visibility were ignored. The Terran Confederation's top officers assumed it must have been a case of criminal negligence, thus Col. Blair was demoted and punished. Blair was then stationed in the backwater Caernarvon Station in the Gwenydd System for almost ten years and was branded the "Coward of K'tithrak Mang" throughout the Confederation. It was not until the year 2667 that the existence of the stealth fighter was confirmed when Colonel Blair and his wingman encountered them during the destruction of the Kilrathi's K'tithrak Mang Headquarters in the Enigma Sector. The fighters brought back data records of their encounter and Colonel Blair was finally cleared of any wrongdoings in the destruction of the TCS Tiger's Claw. As reported by the other Confederation pilots which went up against them, these stealth fighters were able to disappear from visual and electronic sensors for short periods of time. When not firing, the fighters cannot fire weapons while cloaked although the fighters can continue to operate shields. Besides stealth, these prototype stealth fighters were notoriously under-powered, under-armed, and under-protected. It is only the stealth device and the ability to carry torpedoes that made the first Strakhas dangerous. A common tactic for the pilots using these fighters was to fire missiles just as the fighter came out of cloaking mode and hit the enemy by surprise. While reasonably maneuverable, the fighter is not as maneuverable as the Sartha light fighter or Dralthi medium fighter. The fighter carries lighter armor and shields than most Confederation light fighters and the shields are actually only a little better than those on the older Kilrathi Salthi light fighter. For weaponry, the fighter is armed with two laser cannons. In addition to the laser cannons, the fighter has four missile hard points. Two of the hard points are designed to carry heavy missiles such as anti-ship torpedoes while the other to hard points are designed for lighter missiles. These fighters are normally fitted for anti-capital ship missiles and usually carry the largest torpedoes when on anti-capital ship strike missions. Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger By the events of Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger, the prototype version of the stealth fighter had been replaced by a far more powerful mass-production model. The mass production version of the Strakha is far superior to the prototype models in every way. Wing Commander Academy The Strakha stealth fighter makes an appearance in the animated television series Wing Commander Academy. It appears in Episode 11: Invisible Enemy. This Strakha fighter has the same technical specifications and weapon arsenal as its computer game counterpart with the exception of one missile hard point being excluded. It houses two laser cannons, two missile hard points and a single torpedo hardpoint. The only known major difference is the fighter's ship design. In Academy, the Strakha is based of the Sartha light fighter, but to make the fighter a stealth fighter, the hull was made a black/purple color. The Strakha stealth fighter's cloak device is not the "full" cloak seen in Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi. The fighter shares a similarity to the Confederation's Shroud-type cloaking device (see Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger), which hides a fighter from sensors but not to the naked eye. External links *Wing Commander CIC: Strakha class Medium/Heavy Stealth Fighter - Used as a source. Category:Starfighters